My wife and I intend to remortgage our maisonette in Victoria Dock with . We have a son 19 who lives at home. Our solicitor has asked us to disclose anyone over the age of 17 other than ourselves who lives in the flat. The solicitor has now sent a form for our son to sign, waiving any legal rights in the event that the apartment is repossessed. I have two concerns (1) Is this document specific to the conveyancing panel as he did not need to sign this form when we bought 3 years ago (2) In signing this form is our son in any way compromising his right to inherit the property?

On the face of it your lawyer has done nothing wrong as it is established procedure for any occupier who is aged 17 or over to sign the necessary Consent Form, which is purely to state that any rights he has in the property are postponed and secondary to . This is solely used to protect if the property were re-possessed so that in such circumstances, your son would be legally obliged to leave. It does not impact your son’s right to inherit the apartment. Please note that if your son were to inherit and the mortgage in favour of had not been discharged, he would be liable to take over the loan or pay it off, but other than that, there is nothing stopping him from keeping the property in accordance with your will or the rules of intestacy.

Will lawyers ask for money on account for my conveyancing in Victoria Dock?

If you are buying a property in Victoria Dock your solicitor will ask you place them with monies to cover the the cost of the conveyancing searches. This will be the total of the cost of the conveyancing searches. If any deposit is as part of the purchase price then this will be required immediately ahead of contracts are exchanged. The final balance that is needed should be transferred a couple of days prior to the completion date.

My flat in Victoria Dock is up for sale and I have a purchaser. Will the need to be required to be on the conveyancing panel in order to deal with repayment of my mortgage?

Ordinarily, even if your lawyer is not on the conveyancing panel they can still act for you on your sale. It might be that the lender will not release the original deeds (if applicable and increasingly irrelevant) until after the mortgage is paid off. You should speak to your lawyer directly before you start the process though to ensure that there is no problem as lenders are changing their specifications fairly frequently at the moment.

Can you point me to a directory of panel conveyancers in Victoria Dock on the UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook Website?

No. There is no such tool on the CML or Building Society Association sites. Very few lending institutions make their panel listings open the public on the web. If you are seeking to appoint a Victoria Dock on the please use our facility.

We have agreed to purchase a house in Victoria Dock. A rare aspect is that the roof has a solar panel. Solicitors conducting should look into this right? Will my lender be concerned?

As you are obtaining a mortgage with your lawyer must follow the conveyancing requirements contained in Part two of UK Finance Lenders’ Handbook for . The CML Handbook sets out minimum provisions for solar panel roof-space leases, and are required to report to where a lease fails to comply with these provisions. The provisions relate to the installation of panels on properties countrywide and is not isolated to Victoria Dock.

I recently had an offer agreed on a house in Victoria Dock. My mortgage broker recommended their conveyancers. I paid an upfront payment of £200. A few days later, the contacted me embarrassingly acknowledging that they were not on the conveyancing panel. Am I right in thinking that I should be due a refund?

You should be able to recover this from the law firm if they were not on the panel. They should have asked at the outset which lender you were obtaining a mortgage with. An important lesson to readers of this site is to check that the lawyers are on the appropriate lender panel.

I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in Victoria Dock. Before I set the wheels in motion I require certainty as to the remaining lease term.

Assuming the lease is recorded at the land registry - and most are in Victoria Dock - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title. For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

Victoria Dock Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Questions you should consider Prior to Purchasing

You will want to find out as much as you can regarding the company managing the block as they can either make life much simpler or problematic. As the owner of a leasehold property you are frequently in the clutches of the managing agents both financially and when it comes to every day matters like the cleanliness of the communal areas. Ask other tenants what they think of them. Finally, find out the dates that you are obliged pay the service charge to the appropriate party and specifically what it includes. For most Victoria Dock leaseholds the cost for major works tend not to be wrapped into the service charges, although a few managing agents in Victoria Dock obliged tenants to contribute towards a reserve fund and this is used to offset against larger repairs or maintenance. The best form of lease arrangement is where the freehold title is owned by the leaseholders. In this arrangement the leaseholders enjoy control and even though a managing agent is frequently employed where the building is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent is directed by the tenants.